The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-10-01
VIE CHINESE WALL.
A wanson Assault Upon the Time Hon ored
Oriental structure.

| n WHnt0n AGsnuIt upon the Time- -fiOuOrou
! Oriental structure.
The iconoclast is again abroad. After
demolishing in turn Washington's
hatchet, Tells feat in archery, and Poca.
hontas' devotion to Captain John Smith,
he took q rest and allowed the world to
retain its old favorites and cherish its
delusions and popular beliefs which,
whether true or not, embodied some
lofty idea or held up some worthy ex-
emplar. Even II Washington never cut
the tree, Tell never saved an arrow for
the tyrant, or Pocahontas never inter-
posed her own head to receive the MUIR
derous blow Of Powhattan's tomahawk,
these pleasant delusions are object les
sons in truth, patriotism and personal
affection and gratitude which 1t is well
to retain. They are not only harmless
in themselves but they are the actual
living types of great ideas.
For these reasons the iconoclast has
never been n favorite with the world.
People cling to their superstitions as
fondly as to their faiths. The latest Of
the class who has broken its long
silence by his mousing investigations
is the French missionary, Able Lar
rien, who has recently published a
pamphlet to demonstrate that the Chi
nese wall does not exist and never has
existed, and that the myth, as he calls
1t, originated with another priest, the
Abbe Martini, who visited the country
in 1850 and set the story travelling,
which all writers on China have ac-
/ cepted as truth. The London Times
says that the Abbe Larrien has lived
for years directly in sight of what
would have been the great wall had
there been one, that he has studied the
writings Of those who have crossed the
alleged line of the wall, as well as Chi
nese history, and that the only founda-
ton for the story is the fact that Chi
nese Emperor, hundreds of years ago,
did contemplate building wall, but
never got farther than the construction
of some square towers. serving as local
defenses for villages. and not as parts
of continuous whole.
| Even were the Abbe Larrien correct
in his statements, what occasion was
there for his making themP He can
not disturb the image fixed in the
memory of every man and woman who
has been to school. of this stately struc-
ture, 2,400 miles long 80 cubits high
and 12 broad, running its course
straight on, regardless of all obstacles,
going down into the valleys, climbing
the mountains, and crossing the rivers
without break, and making tie most
complete and solid boundary Lille ever
invented by man. He can not disturb
their youthful visions of this huge me-
ander, defying nomadic Tartars, and
Offering space sufficient on its broad
roadway not alone for individual celes-
tial constitutionals but for traffic in
puppies, edible BIRDS nests, and other
items in the Chinese menu, for the pas
sage Of mounted spear smen, or the tri-
umphant entrees of circuscs and cara
vans. The poor provincial never
longed to gaze on Carcassonne with
half the avidity all of us have longed
to see the Chinese wall. And now
comes this mousing abbe and says there
is none. and hopes to upset belief
which has been ingrained into the very
consciousness of millions of children
through hundreds of years! His task
will be fruitless one. The world will
still insist upon the Chinese wall, not
only as its most profitable servant in
familiar illustrations, but as an actual
wall of brick 2,400 miles long. 80 cubits
high and IL broad, covered with China
men with funny little hats and long
pig-tails contemptuously gazing at the
outside nomads who are contemplating
the structure with curious and jealous
glances. More than this it will pre-
serve all its superstitions and delusions
and will obstinately resist every effort
of these Gradgrindc iconoclasts to bring
it down to mere visible realities. The
fancies of the world are pleasanter
than its facts. Its ideals are higher
than its ideas. Heaven help us if we
must come down to things rs they
actually are and Danish our Sinbads,
Aladdins, Rasselasses, Ariels, Titanias,
Pucks, Robin Hoods, and all the ouphes,
fays and goblius, Lob who lies by the
fire. Jack and his bcan-stalk, or even
old Bluebeard, the broomstick witches,
and our much-abused friend the sea.
serpent! What will they give us in
place of them to tighten up this weary.
work-o' '-day world?-C Chicago Tribune.